Valverde, quoted in Marca, said: “I have to recognise that it was an important day for him due to the injuries we had. He reacted perfectly,

“He dropped into the midfield to help and he made an impact. We know that if attacking players track back, we have a better chance of winning.”

The home side found themselves a goal down early on when Nabil Fekir opened his account for Betis on 15 minutes but Griezmann equalised shortly before half-time and curled in a superb second early in the second half which had Suarez and Messi beaming their approval.

Goals from Carles Perez and Jordi Alba made sure of the points before Griezmann – signed for more than £100m – set up substitute Arturo Vidal for the fifth, although the best, and last, goal of the night was a 25-yard screamer from Betis’ Loren Moron.